Proof that sanity and real estate can co-exist

March 21, 2007

First National Bank of Wal-Mart?

Dear Everyone,

Now that Starbucks has added 'record label' to their menu, it's not such a stretch to think of going to Wal-Mart for a midnight shop and loan application. But Wally World's attempted foray into the world of banking was recently cut short. The retailer withdrew in reaction to an FDIC moratorium on applications for industrial loan corporations, the kind of banking structure sought by Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart sparked (yet another) uproar when the retailer applied to become an industrial loan corporation. Critics, including Alan Greenspan and members of Congress, feared that the big box retailer would ransack the banking industry in much the same way that it ran amok in the food industry upon offering groceries in Wal-Mart stores.

In announcing that it was throwing in the towel on the ILC application, Wal-Mart Financial Services President Jane Thompson labeled the brouhaha "manufactured controversy."

"At no stage did we intend to use the ILC to establish branch banking operations, as critics have suggested--we simply sought to reduce credit and debit card transaction costs," Thompson said in a statement.

This is how my brain functions. I thought of Paul McCartney, the "cute" Beatle and first artist signed to Hear Music, the Starbucks label. Then I thought of listening to a post-Heather, Starbucks-produced McCartney album while sipping a mocha frappaccino (this is not a paid mention, just a caffeine craving). Then I thought of going to Wal-Mart to get some Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk (craving again) and apply for a mortgage. Scary and intriguing. This stream of consciousness makes me think that one day, in the near future, we may see real estate brokerages proposing wedlock with retailers.